Читать книгу The Greek's Billion-Dollar Baby / The Innocent's Emergency Wedding - Natalie Anderson - Страница 16

HIS EYES SWEPT SHUT, almost as if he could wipe this meeting from reality, as if he would open his gaze and she’d be gone. It wasn’t until that moment Hannah realised that she’d been partly hoping he would react well to this news. While neither of them had planned this, nor wanted it particularly, a baby was still cause for celebration, wasn’t it?

Apparently not.

When he opened his eyes and his gaze pierced her soul, it was with a look of rejection, and panic.

‘No.’ He glared at her. ‘This cannot be happening.’

Hannah curved a hand around her stomach, trying to be generous, to remember he was shocked, that she’d had time to adjust to this news and he was being presented with it all now.

‘Really?’ She arched a brow, her obvious pregnant state contradicting that.

He swore in his native tongue and moved towards a bar in the corner, pulling out two bottles of mineral water. He stalked towards her and held one out and she took it without thinking, her fingers curving over the top.

But, oh, she was so close to him now, and the last five months disappeared, everything disappeared, except this wave of intense recognition and need, that same spark of hunger that had incinerated her on New Year’s Eve.

Her breath escaped her on a hiss; she stood frozen to the spot, her eyes glued to his, her face tilted upwards, her body on alert for his nearness. It was an instant, visceral, physical reaction and it shook her to the core.

But even before her eyes, Leonidas’s surprise was giving way to comprehension. His jaw tightened and he nodded slowly, releasing the water bottle into her grip and stepping away from her, turning to stare at the ocean.

‘How do you feel?’

She was surprised by the question—she hadn’t expected it, this rapid assimilation of information, acceptance and then a hint of civility.

‘I’m mostly okay.’ She nodded, opening the bottle and taking a sip gratefully. ‘I’m quite tired but otherwise fine.’

He didn’t react. ‘Do you know what gender it is?’

Hannah nodded again, but he wasn’t looking. ‘Yes.’ She reached into her handbag, her fingers fumbling a little as she lifted out an ultrasound picture. ‘Here.’

At that word, he turned slowly, his expression grim, his gaze lowering to the flimsy black and white photograph. He made no effort to take it.

‘It’s a girl,’ she said quietly.

He still didn’t reach for the picture, but his eyes swept shut as though he were steeling himself against this, as though it wasn’t what he wanted. Hurt scored her being. But before she could fire that accusation at him, he was shooting another question at her.

‘When did you find out?’

She swallowed in an attempt to bring moisture back to her dry throat. ‘A while ago,’ she admitted.

‘When?’

A hint of guilt flared in her gut but she reminded herself she’d done nothing wrong.

‘I’ve known for a few weeks.’

He stared at her, long and hard, for several moments. ‘You didn’t think I deserved to know when you did?’

She shook her head once, from one side to the other. ‘You didn’t think I deserved more than to wake up to a crummy note?’

He froze, completely still, and the sound of the glamorous party outside the room thumped and crashed. Hannah didn’t move. She glared at him, waiting for his answer.

It came swiftly, his brow furrowing. ‘So this was payback? Retaliation of some kind?’

She shook her head. ‘What? No. It was nothing like that.’ She sucked in a breath, not wanting to be dragged off topic. ‘I just wanted a chance to get used to this before I had to deal with you.’

‘And you are now used to it?’ he demanded, heat in the question.

She let out a small laugh, but it was a sound completely without humour. ‘I’m not sure I’ll ever adjust.’

‘I don’t want anything from you, Leonidas,’ she said firmly, not registering the way something like admiration sparked in his eyes. ‘I had no idea who you were that night, nor that you’re worth a squillion dollars. I have no interest in asking you for any kind of support payment or whatever.’ She shuddered in rejection of the very idea.

‘I mean it. This isn’t my way of asking you to support me in any way. I don’t want that.’

He spoke then, his voice low and husky. ‘So what do you want?’

She bit down on her lip then immediately stopped when he took a step closer, his eyes on the gesture, his body seemingly pulled towards hers.

‘I want…to know you’ll be a part of her life,’ she said quietly, her own childhood a black hole in her mind, swallowing her up. She would do whatever she could to make sure her own daughter never had to live with the grief she’d felt.

He was quiet, watching her, and nervousness fired in Hannah’s gut. ‘Don’t misunderstand me,’ she said thickly. ‘I would happily never see you again. But our daughter deserves to know both her parents.’ She lifted a hand, toying with the necklace she wore, running her finger over the chain distractedly. Hannah needed the security of knowing their child would have two people who loved her, two people in case something happened to one of them.

‘I appreciate this news is probably an even bigger inconvenience to you than it was to me,’ she said simply. ‘I understand you didn’t want this. You were very clear about that.’ She cleared her throat, sidestepping him and moving towards the windows that framed a sensational view of the waters off the coast of Capri. ‘But we are having a child together, and I don’t want her to grow up thinking she’s not wanted.’ Hannah’s voice cracked and she closed her eyes, sucking in breath, needing strength.

‘You want me to be a part of our daughter’s life?’

‘Yes.’ The word rushed out of her. She spun around, surprised to find Leonidas had come to stand right behind her, his eyes on hers, his expression impossible to comprehend.

‘And what kind of part?’

She furrowed her brow, not understanding.

‘Tell me, do you expect me to see her once a year? At Christmas, perhaps? Or for her birthdays, as well? Do you envisage I will spend time with my daughter according to a stopwatch?’

Hannah’s eyes rounded in her face. ‘I don’t understand…’

‘No,’ he said succinctly and now she understood what was holding his face so completely still. He was angry!

‘I will not be a figment of my child’s life—the kind of father who exists like a tiny part of her.’

Hannah didn’t get a chance to reassure him.

‘My child will be raised by me.’ His eyes were like flints of coal as he spoke. ‘She will be raised with my name, and will have everything I can provide her with. She will be mine.’

At the completely possessive tone to his voice Hannah shuddered, because it was exactly how she felt, and they couldn’t both raise their daughter.

‘Don’t make me regret coming here,’ Hannah said quietly.

At this, his features grew taut, his jaw locked and his eyes showed a swirling comprehension that filled her with ice. ‘Are you saying you contemplated not doing so?’

She paled, tilting her chin with a hint of rebellion. ‘I’ve contemplated a great many things since I found out about her.’

‘And was not telling me that I fathered a child one of those things you considered?’

Her cheeks glowed pink, revealing the truth of that statement. ‘Briefly,’ she conceded. ‘Yes, of course. Wouldn’t it be easier that way?’

Fury contorted his features and she rolled her eyes.

‘I contemplated it for about three seconds before realising I could never do that. Obviously you deserve to know you’re going to be a father. She’s your child. I’m not saying you don’t have a claim on her. But she’s an innocent in this, she doesn’t deserve to be pulled between us just because of that night.’

‘I do not intend for her to be pulled between us.’ He seized on this and, for a moment, she felt relief. Perhaps he was going to be reasonable after all, and not make this so difficult.

‘You can be very involved,’ she promised. ‘I’m a reasonable person, Leonidas, and what I want most in this world is for our daughter to grow up secure in the love of her parents. But I want full custody. Full rights.’ He didn’t speak and she took strength from that. ‘It’s better this way, don’t you see that?’

‘Better for you,’ he drawled, and then shook his head angrily. ‘At least, you seem to think it is, but you do not have all the facts, Hannah.’

‘No? What am I missing?’

He ground his teeth together. ‘Does it not occur to you that there are risks to you, to her, in being connected to someone like me?’

She blinked, and something tapped the back of her mind, something she’d seen on an Internet search. Only she’d tried not to look too deeply at his life, his past—she’d felt dirty enough having to look him up on the internet to find the name of this boat.

‘No one needs to know.’

His laugh was a mocking snort. ‘That’s simplistic and naïve. The tabloid press probably already has paparazzi on your trail. That’s before you show up to this—one of the most hotly photographed events of the year—heavily pregnant and asking to see me.’

‘I am not heavily pregnant,’ she said, and then clamped her mouth shut in frustration and the sheer irrelevancy of that. ‘And so what? Who cares? Lots of people have illegitimate children. There’ll be a rumour. We’ll say nothing, and then it will die down.’

‘You are missing my point,’ he insisted darkly. ‘From the minute this news hits the public domain, you will become a part of my world, and so will she, whether you want to be or not. Thinking you can just hide away from that is unrealistic.’

‘So?’ she said, though she hadn’t considered this, and didn’t particularly like the way it made her feel. ‘I’ll cope.’

‘As a bare minimum, you will find yourself and your every move open to speculation in the gossip papers, and our daughter will be photographed and written about even when doing the most mundane things. You will want my protection from this, Hannah, and she will certainly deserve it.’

‘I’d rather find my own way to protect her,’ Hannah said crisply. ‘I can handle a few photographers, and as for the stories, I just won’t read them.’

His smile was a grim flicker of his lips. ‘Sure, give that a go.’ It was pure sarcasm.

‘In any event, it is not,’ he continued, ‘the photographers that I am concerned with.’

She waited, holding a hand protectively over her stomach without realising it.

‘I was married once,’ he said, finally, the words like steel.

She remembered. Oh, it had been buried deep inside her mind, but as soon as he said it she recalled reading that, somewhere, at some time.

‘And my wife was murdered.’

Hannah sucked in a gasp, sympathy pushing every other emotion from her mind.

‘As was my two-year-old son.’

Hannah was hot and cold, sorrow and pain shooting through her. She almost felt as though she might faint.

‘They were murdered as a vendetta against my father.’ The words were strained and urgent. ‘They lost their lives to hurt him and punish him. They were killed because of who they were to Dion Stathakis, and to me. I will not let that happen again. I will not let that happen to our daughter.’

Hannah’s chest hurt. She’d known she was pregnant for a few weeks and already she knew she would give her life for this baby. She couldn’t imagine the desperate agony of losing a toddler, of knowing a toddler to have met such a violent end.

‘I’m so sorry.’ The words were thick with tears. ‘That must have been unbearable.’ She swallowed, but the tears she was so adept at fighting filled her eyes.

He didn’t respond—what could he say?

‘But isn’t that even more reason for me to hide away? To let me move far away from you and your world?’

‘You cannot hide her. Not from men like him.’

A shiver ran down Hannah’s spine.

‘Only I can protect you both.’

Fear made Hannah tactless. ‘I beg to differ, given the past…’

His expression cracked with pain and she winced.

‘I’m so sorry. That was an awful thing to say. It’s just…’

‘No, you’re right.’ He held up a hand to stall her. ‘I did not appreciate the danger to Amy and Brax. I failed them.’ His voice was deep and her heart ached. ‘I had no idea they were being watched, nor that a madman would use them to seek revenge on my father. His conviction did much damage to our business, and my brother and I worked tirelessly to make amends there, to return Stathakis Corp to its position of global prominence. That was my focus.

‘I failed them, my wife and child, and I will never forget that, nor forgive myself.’

He straightened, his expression like iron. ‘I will not make that mistake with her.’

He moved closer to Hannah, and she held her breath.

His hands curved over her stomach and she felt so much in that moment. It was as though a piece of string were wrapping from him to her, binding them, tying them together. If this had been a wedding ceremony it would have felt like a lesser commitment.

He focussed all his attention on Hannah. ‘I will put everything I am into protecting you both, into ensuring men like that cannot get you. I cannot let you get on with your life as though this is simply an aberration when there may very well be a target over her head. Or yours, just because you happened to make the regrettable decision of sleeping with me one night.’

‘You were the one who regretted it,’ she pointed out and then shook her head, because that didn’t matter any more. Panic was surging inside her; she felt as though she were falling back into a well only there was no light at the top of it.

She sucked in a breath but it burned through her lungs. ‘Leonidas,’ she groaned. ‘I don’t want anything to happen to her.’

‘I won’t let it,’ he promised, lifting his hands to her face, holding her steady for his inspection. ‘I promise you that.’

‘How can you stop it?’

His eyes roamed her face intently. ‘I will protect you and our daughter with my dying breath, that is how.’

She shook her head, the madness of this incongruous with the sounds of revelry beyond the room. Fear had her forgetting everything they were to one another, the brevity of their affair, his quickness to leave her, the fact he’d intended for them never to see one another again—and she’d agreed to that. In that moment, he was her lifeline, and she lifted a hand to his chest to take hold of it.

‘Do you really think we’re in danger?’

His eyes held hers and she felt the battle raging within him—a desire to reassure and placate her and a need to be honest.

‘I will make sure you are not. But you must do what I say, and trust me to know what is right for you, for her, for our family.’

Family.

The word seemed to tear through both of them in different ways, each reacting to the emotion of that word, the harsh implications of such a term.

He looked stricken and Hannah felt completely shocked. She hadn’t had a family in a long time. And even though this had been foisted on both of them, the word felt warm and loaded with promise. She swallowed past a lump in her throat and shook her head, nothing making sense.

‘How? What? Tell me, Leonidas. I need to know she’ll be okay.’

‘Marry me,’ he said simply, the words like rocks dropping into the boat.

‘What?’

‘Marry me, as soon as is legally possible.’

She sucked in a breath, his words doing strange things to her. In a thousand years, she hadn’t expected this, and she had no way of processing how she felt. Marriage? To Leonidas Stathakis?

‘How the heck is that going to help?’

‘You’ll be my wife, under my protection, living in my home. We will be raising our child together.’

The picture he painted was so seductive. Hannah took a fortifying breath, trying to disentangle the irrational desire to make sure her daughter didn’t suffer the same miserable upbringing as she had from what was actually the right decision. It was impossible to think clearly.

Hannah shook her head slowly. ‘It would never work between us.’

‘What is there to “work”?’ he asked simply. ‘You love our child, do you not?’

Hannah’s eyes sparked with his. ‘With all my heart.’

‘And you want to do what is best for her?’

Hannah’s chin tilted in silent agreement.

‘So trust me. Trust me to protect you both, to ensure her safety. I will never let anything happen to either of you.’

She nodded, listening to his words, hearing the intent in them.

‘I cannot have my daughter raised anywhere but in my home,’ he murmured, clearing his throat. She jerked her gaze to his and the depth of feeling in his eyes almost tore her in two. ‘I need to know she is safe. That you are safe.’ He turned away from her, stalking towards the table. He placed his palms on it, staring straight ahead, out into the water. The party raged outside their doors, but inside this room, it was deathly silent.

‘We don’t really even know each other,’ she said quietly, even as her heart was shifting, and her mind was moving three steps ahead to her inevitable acceptance.

Two main points were working on her to accept. Whatever threat he perceived, there was enough of a basis in fact for Hannah to be seriously concerned. His wife and child had been murdered. His father was in the mob. These threats did not simply disappear—she was in danger, and so was their daughter.

And even if it weren’t for that, there were other considerations. Hannah’s parents had died unexpectedly and her whole world had imploded. She’d been moved to her aunt and uncle’s—who she’d barely known—and been left to their dubious care. She’d been miserable and alone.

There were no guarantees in life, but weren’t two parents better than one wherever possible? Wasn’t it more of an insurance policy for their daughter to know both her mother and father? What if Hannah insisted on raising her alone, with Leonidas as a ‘bit player’ in their lives, and then something happened to Hannah? And what if by then he’d married someone else, and their child was an outsider?

As Hannah had been.

She expelled a soft breath, the reality of that like a punch in the gut. Because marrying Leonidas would mean she’d always be on the edge, that she’d never find that one thing she knew she really wanted, deep down: a true family of her own. A family to which she belonged. People who adored and wanted her.

But this wasn’t about her; it wasn’t about her wants and desires. All that mattered was their baby.

With resignation in her turbulent green eyes, she lifted her head a little, partway to nodding.

He saw it, and his eyes narrowed then he straightened, relief in his features. ‘We will fly to the island today. My lawyer will take care of the paperwork.’

But it was all so rushed. Hannah spun away from him, lifting her water bottle from the table’s edge and sipping it.

‘I have a job, Leonidas.’

‘Quit.’

There were only two weeks left of her maternity contract. It wasn’t the worst thing to do, though she hated the idea of leaving her boss in the lurch. She dropped her hand to her stomach and thought of their baby and nothing else seemed to matter.

For her? She’d do anything.

‘You will be safe on the island,’ he insisted, as though he could read her thoughts and knew exactly which buttons to press to get her to agree.

‘On Chrysá Vráchia?’ she asked distractedly.

‘No.’ His expression took on a contemplative look. ‘My island.’

‘You have your own island?’ Disbelief filled the tone of her words.

‘Yes. Not far from Chrysá.’ He moved closer, his eyes scanning her face. ‘It is beautiful. You’ll like it.’

She was sure she would, but it was all happening so fast. Even knowing she would agree—that she had agreed—she heard herself say softly, ‘This is crazy.’

And perhaps he thought she was going to change her mind, because he crossed the room and caught her arms, holding her close to him, his gaze locked to hers.

‘You have to see that I cannot let our child be raised away from me. And, following that logic, that it is best for us to be married, to at least try to present our child with a sense of family, even when we know it to be a lie.’

Her heart squeezed tight, her lungs expelled air in a rush. Because it was exactly what she wanted, exactly what she’d just been thinking. Still, cynicism was quick to follow relief. ‘You really think we can fool our child into believing we’re a normal couple?’

His lips were a grim slash and she had the strongest impression that he couldn’t have been less impressed if she’d suggested he set fire to this beautiful, enormous yacht.

‘I think we owe it to our child to try.’